IMHO, nothing beats a Honda B series, especially the B16A with whale penis or short ram intake. You get a huge induction noise followed by a loud VTEC crossover.

tbh i'm in the same boat - drove a GT3 Cup car, just thought it was a lot of metallic rasp above 8k that I didn't particularly care for

That's to be expected, a Cup car? That's just straight pipe. It's not trying to sound good it's just trying to expel exhaust as quickly as possible.

There is ZERO rasp here... stock or Tubi:

I think we're well into the "ish" part by now lol. Unless there's something we've missed the only cars still available new without getting expensive are a Miata and Corolla. Moderately expensive you've got Lexus and Porsche. Honda and BMW haven't done it since 2011? Nissan 2007? The really sporty Toyotas since 2006? They made some cool engines past then like the 2GR but unless you buy a Lotus the best thing it went into was a Camry?

And I don't think anyone made an N/A I6 since 2011.

Shush... I refuse to believe.

They put the 2GR into some interesting things, we just didn't get them or didn't get the cool kids version.

The RWD FSE went into the GR Mark X with a 6sp back in 2018. That would have been the car I'd be driving if they offered here.
The Aussies got the Aurion TRD which is a Camry with a SC 2GR.

The most performance we got here was the IS350. The 2GR combined with the gen3 IS F sport chassis was amazing, but by then BMW was already into the 350hp territory with the N55 and not many were sold.

Honda never made a huge splash with their J engines, but they were decent in the TL's which came with a stick up till 2012.

Nissan was making the VQ37 till last year with the 370Z.

But yeah not much to choose from brand new.

I really like the Honda K20C2 that is used in the 10th and 11th gen Civic. Neither cars are sporty by nature, but they do drive incredibly well, and aftermarket support for both platforms are strong. That K20C2 retains all the good old school Honda engine characters, but blends the modern K engine torque along with it. If I was still in my 20's, and it is the only car I have, I'd totally rice it out to make it my wannabe sports car.

Any love for the first and second generation Audi R8s?

The first gen R8 came into production in 2007 with a 4.2L V8. 414 HP.

Then the second gen R8 had a 5.2 L V10 engine from the Lambo LP560-4 starting in 2009. 518 HP.

The V8 and V10 R8s sound good IMO. One the most stylish sport cars IMO.

oh my

reminds me of this i just watched like a day ago (ok yes it's donut lol) but the sound engineer describes the fluidity of how the 4age rpm's climb

https://youtu.be/SqmTRAIFNvw?si=ldZFObgscQZneOdG&t=375

now i have to work that much harder to get a big n/a that sounds good :okay:

Pick up a 370Z Nismo and upgrade it.

The amount of variance in S2k I've driven is insane.

Even if low mileage, all the rubber bits, shocks, etc need to be re-done or the car feels sloppy.

Engine mounts, transmission mounts, diff mounts, bushings, shocks, shifter bushing all a must.

Wish I could change my body's bushings. :alone:

i think they can overheat? kinda bummer to do cooling mods for na

imo it's less so the overheating ... it's a heavy crossover platform and it really feels it: vague and vibrat-y shifter, little steering feel, super vibrat-y VQ37 that hella shakes at the high rev range, etc.

For equivalent or better driving dynamics, I'd be in ANY S550 5.0 Coyote.

For more comfort, very progressive chassis, and better control feel (steering/shifter), the Challenger takes the cake.

For just a better sports car, the Camaro drives like the E46, very eager.

All R8s from 2007 to 2015 are considered first gen including the V10 that made 525hp. 2016 and up are the second gen. Second gen did not come in a manual.

A Camaro drives like an E46?

Man I just had a rental with the V6. What an awful car ��. Decent amount of jam, horrendous traction, but just an absolute boat. It cornered nice and flat though, I will give it that. Awful visibility, tiny trunk access with dismal rear seats.

Good bye, life savings. :okay:

what does RS hive mind think of top of the price range S2000's?

Could spend a year, maybe 10k kms tops and still have a low miler to sell next spring.

Safe bet? money in money out? (barring a disaster)

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...5598527567424/

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...3201208760916/

https://scontent.fcxh3-1.fna.fbcdn.n...0w&oe=65F40647

I still think S2000s are overpriced by 5-10k... those are very steep prices IMO.

Mine is ratbagged but I love it more because of that. Kind of like a rescue dog.

i think they are too - i'd feel better about both those cars under 40k

but i would be willing to park more $ in one if I was confident about getting it back out.

I drove the s2k a few years ago and if it wasn’t so damn small for anyone over 6ft, I’d have one in my garage.

It’s quite good and worth the money. I’m hoping the CTR would capture that magic but I doubt it.

They're getting discontinued because imo other than the powertrain and chassis tuning, it's a really shitty car that feels scary to daily drive for all the reasons you mentioned.

I feel the chassis tuning strikes the goldilocks balance of compliance (super rare in modern sports cars) and firmness to feel agile the way the E46 did. Brake pedal and steering feel were both progressive and consistent which is a rarity these days (looking at you... BMW, Ford, and Mercedes).

Keep in mind the rental came with shitty all seasons (that the rental company might've replaced with Chinese tires if there was a flat) and definitely didn't have the Brembo brakes nor the 1LE package that comes with 275s in the back.

Specced right, the ZL1 1LE ties a Huracan EVO and beats a 488 GTB around VIR,
The SS 1LE's barely off the pace of a 981 GT4, faster than an LFA and GTR at launch
... even the 2.0T is faster than a 07 911 Turbo, RC F, and E92 M3.

I never got a chance to drive one, but I've always wanted to ever since I was a kid. I feel like I may be setting myself up for disappointment if I:

a. Drive it and be disappointed by it
b. Drive it, love the heck out of it, and regret buying an ND

I wanted to drive an S2k forever too and was planning to buy one way back before prices shot up... but then I spent a day driving a friend's minty 2005 around and I didn't like it at all. Definitely a never meet your heroes moment for me personally.

Even if you can break even you're out ~$5400 in taxes. There's so many cars I would've owned briefly if it wasn't for the stupid taxes.

Now you could just consider that the price of the experience of owning a dream car for a while and in the grand scheme of things that's probably not terribly expensive as a bucket list experience. But for the same money you could do one of those Porsche subscriptions and have a Cayman/Boxster/911 for a month with no risk of there being an additional cost. Also less risk of falling in love with it and then having to explain to your spouse why you're not selling the car you specifically said you were only going to keep for a year lol.

Either way I'd want to plan a really good road trip or two during the ownership to really maximize the experience.